Lost male kestrel

What a terrible day today turned out to be.

I flew the male and female Kestrels together, these have been reared together, trained and flown free together. I was suprised there for when the female Kestrel turned on the male Kestrel and chased him out of the field to the nearby tree line.
To my dismay, from behind the tree line came two Kestrels that started a turf war with my Kestrels. The female Kestrel stood her ground, but the male Kestrel was chased down wind until he was a dot in the sky.

I was not overly worried, as it was highly unlikely the Kestrels would kill each other and my Kestrel had telemetry on.
Imagine the horror that hit me when I later found my Kestrels telemetry on a track, somehow the kestrel had lost the telemetry.

Starting my search where I last saw the Kestrel provided no clues, no kestrel to be found. Returning to the flying area also left me empty handed. The most worrying part of this, the weather is cold tonight, just 5 degrees at 9pm.

Tomorrow I will be up before first light to resume the search, i will keep this blog updated on the progress.

An open invite just for you

I warmly invite you all to come and meet the wonderful birds of prey at Norfolk falconry.

Your chance to meet Norfolk falconry and their birds of prey at a real bargain price of just £5 per person, £2.50 for children. You can handle the Snowy owl, Barn owls, Harris hawks, Indian eagle owl, Red tail Buzzard and the Kestrels to name just a few of the birds of prey.
There will be a talk for 1 hour at 2.pm and 4.pm about the birds of prey, though between these times you are welcome to view, take photos of and experience the handling of these gorgeous birds of prey.
There will be light refreshments available.

This is an ideal opportunity for those that appreciate birds of prey to come and have a gentile introduction to birds of prey outside of their aviaries for very little money, which will all be spent on the birds of prey upkeep.


To be honest, this is a small village hall I have been invited too, so whilst you are more than welcome to 'just turn up' I advise booking in advance to guarantee your place.

I will be at Gressenhall Reading Rooms on the 22/November/2008 from 12.30 until 6.30 PM

I look forward to seeing and meeting you,
Warmest regards, Mark Christian

This is a chargeable event at a cost of GBP 5.00